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Friday, March 18, 2011

China's Largest Meat Processor Shuanghui Group Apologized Over Additive Scandal

China's largest meat processor Shuanghui Group apologized Wednesday after an illegal additive was allegedly found in meat products in an affiliate of the company.

Jiyuan Shuanghui, China's largest meat processor Shuanghui Group apologized Wednesday after an illegal additive was allegedly found in meat products in Jiyuan Shuanghui, a subsidiary company of Shuanghui Group in Jiyuan, central China's Henan Province. The group ordered Jiyuan Shuanghui to halt operations and sent a deputy general manager to the company to impose corrective measures.

Nineteen pigs in central China's Henan Province have tested positive to having a banned additive in their urine, the city government said Thursday. Out of 689 pigs awaiting slaughter and processing by Jiyuan Shuanghui Food Co., Ltd, 19 tested positive to having Clenbuterol, an illegal additive poisonous to humans, according to a Jiyuan city government statement.

The Ministry of Agriculture sent a team to Henan Province on Tuesday to investigate, and the provincial government ordered 16 pig farms to halt pig and pork sales and sealed feedstuff suspected to contain the additive.

The city government is also investigating more than 1,300 pig farms and 130 feed and vet drug stores, said the statement. No results have been disclosed yet.

Li Changqing, general manager of Xinda Husbandry Company based in Henan, said the case would severely damage the whole industry.

"The Clenbuterol case would definitely affect consumers' confidence in purchasing meat products," Li said. "Corrective measures should be introduced immediately to avoid consequences like those that damaged the dairy industry following the melamine scandal."

In Nanjing City, capital of nearby Jiangsu Province, the local government suspended operations Thursday of Xingwang Slaughter House after pigs believed to be from Henan tested positive to Clenbuterol.

Authorities also tested pigs in 35 other slaughter plants and 38 pig farms in Nanjing but no tests results were positive.

Clenbuterol is a chemical that can be fed to pigs to prevent them from accumulating fat. It is banned as an additive in pig feed in China because it can end up in the flesh of pigs and is poisonous to humans if ingested.

According to biological experts, humans can suffer from nausea, headaches, limb tremors and even cancer after eating food containing Clenbuterol.

The Clenbuterol pork meat scandal has caused consumers all over China to express concern and disappointment in the processor giant.

"I always bought Shuanghui's ham sausages thinking the brand was the most reliable in China, but now, I don't know which brand I should trust," said a 28-year-old woman in Beijing.

Jiyuan Shuanghui is under Shuanghui Group, China's largest meat processor with total assets of over 10 billion yuan (1.52 billion U.S. dollars). The Henan-based group has factories in 12 provinces throughout China, producing cooked meat products such as sausage, and also has branches in Japan, Singapore, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea, according to its website.